Benefits and Disadvantages of silk screen printing

Benefits 

Long lasting

Due to the composition and thickness of inks used in screen printing, designs placed with this method can withstand far more stress than others without losing the quality of the print.

And Nowadays, the demand for silk screen printing is increasing and it will grow even more in the future.

Big Order

Since this is a method that requires the fabrication of screens for every colour used in an artwork, it is best reserved for large orders. The more garments placed in an order then the cheaper the cost per unit will be.

Great Finish

Screen printing produces vibrant colours that are hard to replicate by other printing techniques. Techniques like direct to garment (DTG) use cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK) dots to recreate their images and while it is a great method to replicate details it usually pales (literally) in comparison to screen printing.

More Ink

Screen printing allows for the greater thickness of the ink than other techniques, which result in greater possibilities when it comes to the finish of the piece.

Versatility

It is hard to find a printing method as versatile as screen printing. It can be done on almost any surface as long as it is flat, fabric, wood, plastic and even metal, among many others.

Straightforward

It is a basic process that does not change regardless if it’s automated or done by hand. The tools are not hard to replace and won’t become obsolete as fast as other technologies.

Disadvantages

Not practical for small orders

As we already mentioned, screen printing needs more prep than other techniques before going into production. This doesn’t make it suitable for “on-demand” printing, which is the creation of a garment as soon as it is ordered.

The more colours, the more expensive it is

Turns out that having to create a screen for each colour can be a bit of a hassle. Colourful designs complicate the process and make it more expensive, that is why it is better to keep designs for screen printing with as few tones as possible.

It’s not environmentally friendly

While efforts have been made to create eco-friendly inks and screens, it is still a reality that screen printing wastes a lot of water. Water is used to mix up inks and clean the screens, which may not seem like much at first, but manufacturers produce hundreds of garments a day (if not thousands) and when we start to add up, it can get scary.

Relative Complexity

It might sound like a contradiction, but screen printing can be quite complex depending on the design and project because it has more steps than other methods.